AndrewCuomo posts
FeedPosted Sep 14th 2009 5:00PM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Financial Crisis

Let's dive into the world of breaking news here, as the New York Attorney General's office has decided to mark the one-year anniversary of the financial meltdown by
preparing charges against some
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) executives. Reportedly, the charges stem from the failure to disclose details about the company's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
The Attorney General (Andrew Cuomo) is likely to file charges against the executives because of their failure to alert shareholders to mounting losses and accelerated bonus payments at Merrill. Earlier, a federal district judge rejected a $33-million settlement between BAC and the SEC over the same executive bonuses. This settlement was in relation to the fact that BAC did not inform shareholders of an agreement to pay Merrill Lynch execs billions of dollars worth of bonuses, the deal was struck before BAC acquired Merrill.
Continue reading Bank of America execs facing charges
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 11:00AM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), DJIA, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis
An outspoken group of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) shareholders has been calling for CEO Kenneth Lewis's head lately, with investors none too pleased by the bank's near-disastrous acquisition of Merrill Lynch. However, testimony is hitting Wall Street today that indicates Lewis was simply following government orders by keeping hefty losses at Merrill under wraps.
Lewis testified under oath before New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in February, asserting "it wasn't up to me" to disclose Merrill's fourth-quarter losses toward the end of 2008.
According to Lewis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pressured him to stay mum about Merrill Lynch's troublesome balance sheet. The regulators reportedly urged Lewis to proceed with the merger, warning that the deal's failure would "impose a big risk" to the nation's financial system.
Continue reading Was Bank of America's CEO intimidated by the feds?
Posted Mar 20th 2009 4:10PM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: After the bell, General Motors (GM), Expedia Inc (EXPE), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Xerox Corp (XRX), S and P 500, DJIA, NASDAQ
After days of rallying, the market decided that bank stocks had gone much too far. With no first quarter earnings out, the fact is that the current quarter could still be tough. Financial shares could still reset lower. The market reacted accordingly.
The unofficial numbers for the day broke out like this:
Dow 7,278.38 -122.42 (-1.65%)
S&P 500 768.54 -15.50 (-1.98%)
Nasdaq 1,457.27 -26.21 (-1.77%)
TOP ANALYST CALLS
Continue reading Closing bell: End of bank rally brings the show down (AIG, EXPE, GM, MGM, XRX)
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 12:30PM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Management, Bank of America (BAC), Options, DJIA, Financial Crisis
A report today in the New York Post suggests that shareholders are anxious to oust Kenneth Lewis, CEO of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC). The paper says that a group of angry investors, spearheaded by Jerry Finger, has compiled a list of demands to present at the bank's next annual meeting. Finger and his irate mob will request that the roles of CEO and chairman be split, and the outspoken investor said it's safe to assume that a brand-new chief executive is also high on his wish list.
Finger made headlines last month by filing a class-action lawsuit against B of A, alleging that its merger with Merrill Lynch failed to protect shareholders' interests. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is now investigating that very same matter, and reports say that the AG may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses to Merrill employees that were rushed through prior to the merger's completion.
Continue reading Will Bank of America shareholders show CEO Kenneth Lewis the door?
Posted Dec 18th 2008 11:11AM by Daniel Solin (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other issues, Politics

Isn't it finally time to put someone in charge of the SEC who really cares about investors?
There are many well qualified candidates. Here are a few suggestions:
William Galvin: The highly respected Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has taken on the industry and recovered millions of dollars of damages for aggrieved investors.
Joe Borg: Executive Director of the Alabama Securities Commission. Mr. Borg has a stellar record of protecting the interests of investors in Alabama.
Andrew Cuomo: The Attorney General of New York. He knows the industry and has shown great tenacity in exposing the recent fraud involving Auction Rate Bonds and other misdeeds.
Mary Schapiro, who is President-elect Obama's choice, has spent her career protecting the securities industry
from investors.
Continue reading Memo to Obama: Mary Schapiro is not 'change' at the SEC
Posted Oct 22nd 2008 5:45PM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market matters, , Amer Intl Group (AIG)

Executive pay is like the weather. Everyone complains about it but no one does anything to change it. That is until New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo tangled with
AIG (NYSE:
AIG).
Cuomo, the son of a former New York governor who reportedly wants the job himself one day, convinced the embattled insurer to suspend payments from a $600 million bonus fund as well as a $19 million payoff to its former chief executive Martin J. Sullivan, according to
The New York Times.
This is good news for taxpayers for a number of reasons. First, the thought of executives at a firm that was bailed out by taxpayers the tune of tens of billions of dollars getting bonuses was galling. Sullivan and his colleagues were supposed to be rewarded to creating value for shareholders, which they obviously failed to do. Cuomo also set a precedent that might apply to executives at other failed companies such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and
Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER).
Continue reading Kudos to Andrew Cuomo for forcing AIG to suspend executive bonus pay
Posted Oct 16th 2008 10:15AM by Douglas McIntyre (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Amer Intl Group (AIG)
When an executive gets a bonus, he should be able to keep it, no matter what happens to his company later. It was given to him by his board of directors. It is their right. Most senior management people have employment contracts. It is all legal. Bonuses drive performance and help retain people who might take jobs elsewhere.
Andrew Cuomo, son of a former governor of New York State, and a man who would like that job, is the Attorney General of the Empire State. He looks at management bonuses a bit differently. He is going after AIG (NYSE: AIG) management compensation to make his point.
According to The New York Times, "The board awarded its chief executive officer a cash bonus of over $5 million and a golden parachute worth $15 million," Mr. Cuomo wrote in a letter to AIG's board. He proposes to take action against the insurance company if it does not relent, but it is not clear what that action would be.
No matter how much popular support there is for cutting huge executive compensation packages, Cuomo wants to undermine the rights of public company boards to use their own judgments on how to handle pay packages for their own senior managers. Cuomo wants to restrict corporate boards from exercising rights which they have had for decades. Will he want to decide how boards compensate management at steel companies or fast-food firms? Where does it end?
Cuomo is out of bounds.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Posted Aug 21st 2008 4:53PM by Peter Cohan (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), , Goldman Sachs Group (GS),
Bloomberg News reports that Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) has extended its Auction Rate Securities (ARS) redemption offer in response to what I thought was pressure from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo who threatened to take Merrill to court. But what is interesting is that Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin was the one who announced the settlement.
While the politics of this intrigue me, those who held Merrill ARSs (pun intended) care about the terms of the settlement. Bloomberg reports that Merrill "will begin the buyback on October 15 for individuals, nonprofits and small business with $3 million or less on deposit. Redemptions for clients with $100 million or less start on January 15." This Merrill deal adds to the one it announced on August 7 -- a voluntary buyback of $10 billion worth of ARS. Merrill has a total of "30,000 clients who held an estimated $12 billion" according to Bloomberg.
This leaves many major ARS issuers lagging behind their peers. Here are four holdouts (with their 2007 municipal ARS issuance in parentheses):
What are they waiting for?
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
Posted Aug 15th 2008 5:24PM by Peter Cohan (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), ,
The Wall Street Journal reports that Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) is now the sixth major Auction Rate Securities (ARS) issuer to agree to buy back these long-term securities whose interest rates formerly reset in weekly auctions -- until those auctions failed in February. There seems to be a difference of opinion -- between New York's attorney general and the SEC and Missouri -- regarding the terms of Wachovia's deal.
Andrew Cuomo of New York thinks Wachovia will redeem $8 billion worth of ARS in November and will pay a $50 million fine. The SEC and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan said that Wachovia will buy back $5.7 billion by November 28th. The SEC said Wachovia will buy back an additional $3.1 billion in ARS in June 2009 according to the Journal. Wachovia seems to be leaning more to the two-step process outlined by Carnhan and the SEC.
Meanwhile, today's announcement leaves unredeemed the customers from the following top 10 municipal ARS issuers (their 2007 municipal ARS totals are in parentheses):
I don't know what they're waiting for.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
Posted Jul 23rd 2008 8:50AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- The Wall Street Journal's "Fund Track" reported that some banks struggling to raise capital may sell their money management units. National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC) is selling its Allegiant Funds, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) is considering selling its Fifth Third Asset Management, and KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) will possibly sell its Victory Capital Management unit.
- The Wall Street Journal also reported that Andrew Cuomo, the New York state Attorney General, is preparing to file civil securities-fraud charges against UBS AG (NYSE: UBS), possibly as early as this week. Sources said the lawsuit may include allegations of malfeasance by senior UBS executives.
WEB SITES:
- Bloomberg reported that money manager John Paulson, the owner of Paulson & Co., is launching a hedge fund that will provide capital to financial firms which have been damaged by the housing crisis. Paulson, who wants to open the fund by December, used bets against the U.S. housing market to help him earn $3.7B in 2007.
- After U.S. lawmakers reached a deal on legislation to alleviate the housing recession, the House of Representatives will today vote on a rescue plan for Fannie Mae -- Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM) -- and Freddie Mac -- Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (NYSE: FRE). Representative Barney Frank said that the package, which increases the likelihood Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will get the authority to inject capital into the two, is "fully acceptable," Bloomberg reported.
- Oil trading losses forced SemGroup LP, which used to be America's 12th largest private company, to declare bankruptcy yesterday. Reuters noted that SemGroup LP's parent company is SemGroup Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ: SGLP).
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